The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-10-14

! of the right of self-government TO the people
IF the Territory, and advises that the ques-
/ Federal question by proper amen lmeHt
10 the Constitution of the United tates-
Tnis will strike the country as seusio e
| solutions. Many attempts were made TO
deal with siav ~ By orders issued b. mft-
| tary commanders and by Executive pro-
clamaion, but an efficient treatment was st
last found in an amendment 10 the Const:-
tuition, which is now acquie seed in by the
former slave-h 1iders themselves The man
| who would now in any utate claim owner
| ship of slave wou.d be promptly sup
| pressed by operation of Fed raj justice.
he hapii of submission 10 the supreme
law is strong with our people If the Con-
stitut1on TO b polygsmy and its practice
| continue m any State or Territory, war
| would be caused and armies would wipe
| the offenders off the earth.
| The superficial comment upon the minor
| ity report is that 1.-The commissioners have
| been captured by the Mormons But the
profound fact is that their recommended on
| is the QUIZ feasible solution of an issue
which AFFECTS the enforcers and the viola
TORS of the law.
1t is true that the Supreme Court decides
the several Acts of Congress against polyg
| amy to be constitutional, and they are. But
the people who are pui sued by those Acts
do not read in the Constitution an express
prohibition of their practices. The Supreme
Court, in the bred Scott case, decided that
the Fugitive slave law was constitutional,
but that decision was not satisfactory to the
| people who felt thems lives wronged by the
! existence of slavery. If the Supreme Court
| had, prior to 1860 decided that slavery was
unconstitutio1ally and wrOugfully main
tanned, such decision would. in like man
ner, have been resisted by the people who
felt themselves benefited by slav ry.
! The slavery Issue was sent to the armies
| for a verdict, but the arbitrament of war
would have failed to quiet the title of
single slave to freedom, if it had not been
| affirmed by the Constitution, just as the
bred Scott decision failed to perpe-
it was intended to do In dealing with
polygsmy it is necessary for statesmen to
remember that the Mormons, numbering
some hundreds of thousands, have for forty
years practiced plural marriage Its pro-
priety, indeed its requirement as a part of
religion, have been taught to them from
their cradles. 1t has developed some ling
more than fanatical religious conscience
in them 1t may be termed q hereditary
conscience, which refuses to see anything
wrong in an institution which lies at the
beginning of their very lives.
But this inherited and confirmed convic-
ton is no stronger than was the conviction
of the rightness of slavery, confirmed by
generation that conviction is made voice)ess
by the power of the CONSTITUTE; n We have
no political party that makes war upon any
feature of that instrument. Apply it to
polygamy, and the country will be sur
prised by the suddennesS with which the
practice will cease.
Such course will secure obedience which
will never be willingly given to Acts of
Congress and judicial decisions 1t wi !
present at once the hopelessness of resist
ance, and the hopefulness of obedience
Submission will not be bound in bond with
humiliation, and the Mormon leaders them !
selves win find their authority unweak ened |
and their pride without abrasion in advis- |
ing obedience to the Supreme law
If human nature amongst them should de |
velop an unusual fanaticism, the country |
will more readily rally to the responsibility |
of enforcing fe ,ture of the Constitution, |
which is one Jaw for all.
We think the suggestion is worthy to re-
ceive the endorsement of executive recon-
mendatiOn, to speed it through Congress |
and permit its endorsement by the States |
next year.
The Denver Republican lie equally far
and courageous in its editorial com
ments. 1t is something nowadays to
find a newspaper which is willing to
confess that the Mormons have any
rights which Congress or Federal
officials should respect, or editors con-
slider. The Republican thinks it can
afford to be manly in this instance. as
will be seen by the following;
The Utah Commission is divided in its
report to the Secretary of the Interior on the
condition of affairs in Utah and the effect |
OF the Edmunds law in the Territory 1t is
greatly to the credit of the minority Oh this
Commission that they dissent, since the re-
port of the majority contained discussion
Of theological questions. here also was
appended 10 the m. iOrity report q report of
the proceedings of Presbyterian synod on
the Utah Statehood question, as though
Presbyterian or any other sort OF synod had. !
as such. ght to express an opinion on
a political question
The mino ity says: while cOncu firing in
part with the majority report OF our ascot
8tes, we dissent from it particularly as "a
Introducing theological discussions into
secular documents " Every liberal-miuded
man and woman must agree with the Com
in this The introduction of theo-
logical discussions into secular documents
ike the report of the Utah Commission
should be pTOhiFi ID
The time is come when q little zen iigh Ten
nent should be exhibited in legiSiating
Upon the Mormon question. Passion and
and btgotry have heretofore held
.ull sway; and to say that the Mormons
ought to be dealt with justly has been as
much most as i mans personal safety was
worth. We have no love for the Mormons |
IS people and still less for their ALLEGED |
'eligion But we have d great deal of
,espec! for the Constitution of the United
states; and we therefore say that the
personal liberty and property rights of a
Mormon are as sacred as the personaI
liberty and property rights OF a Christian.
It's because the truth mas been neglected
hat the Mormon legislation has in SO msny
particulars gone astray.
The minority Of the Utah Commission.
lppreciating this, say in their report:
Now, while the great mass of the Mormon
people are makiDg an effort for the abandon
nent Of Pc .ygamy, we are asked to recon.
mend further legislation of hostile and
aggressive character, almost if not entirely
destructive Ct local self-government
hereby inficting punishment uron the
innocent as well as the guilty. This we de-
Zine to do"
8The evil in the kind of legislation objected
> by the Commission is the tendency to
destroy local self-government Without !
What we In America call local self-goyern-
nent, or what in Great Britain or ireland {
s known as home rule, there can be no as :
urance of liberty to the citizen. Without =
uch liberty there can be no healthful polit-
cal growth. Is would be folly to blind our
eyes to this truth. 1t is not a question OF
whether polygamy is or is not right. It is
question of whether American Citizens shall
govern themselves or whether thew shall
1e arbitrarily ruled by distant power over
ne actlCnS OF which they have met nv-en t